California

[Aaron]

I noticed Raymond Lew's tab for California had it with a capo on the 5th fret.  I also noticed that his tab wasn't correct.  I took what I already did for this tab and transposed it to work with a capo on the 5th fret and I'd have to say I'm pleased with the way it is played.  Would anyone w/ a capo care to give it a go?


Liz Phair - "California" (from Juvenilia)
Credit: Aaron Wilson
Last Revised: August 11, 2007

Tuning: Standard w/ capo on 5th fret

[h]ammer-on
[p]ull-off



   [INTRO]
   2/4
E||---------------||
B||---------------||
G||---------------||
D||---------------||
A||---------------||
E||-------0h-2-3--||



  [VERSE]
  4/4
||-----------------------0----|---------------------------||
||-----------------------1----|--0------------------------||
||----------------12-----0----|--4p-0--0--0----0--0-------||
||------------7---12-----2----|--5p-0--4--2----2--0-------||
||-----2---0--0---10--0--0----|--5p-0--5--3----3--0-------||
||--3--3---0------10--0--0----|--0-----5--3----3--0h-2-3--||



  [CHORUS]
     "And I      tried...
  3/8          6/8                          5/8
||------------|----------------------------|------------------||
||------------|----------------------------|------------------||
||------------|--12---12-12---11---11-11---|---9--------9-----||
||------------|--12---12-12---12---12-12---|--10-------10-----||
||-----2--0---|--10---10-10---12---12-12---|--10-------10-----||
||--3--3--0---|--10---10-10---10---10-10---|---8----8---8--0--||


       to    tell            you be-   fore...           that that's
  4/4                                                3/8
||-------------------------|------------------------|------------||
||-----0-------------------|-----0------------------|------------||
||-----1-----0-------0--0--|-----5-----4-------4----|-----4--x-x-||
||-----2--0--2-------2--2--|-----5-----5-------5----|-----5--x-x-||
||-----2--0--3----3--3--3--|-----3-----5----5--5----|--5--5--x-x-||
||--0--0--0--3----3--3--3--|--0--0--0--3----3--3----|--3--3--x-x-||


    why...
  6/8                          5/8
||----------------------------|------------------||
||----------------------------|------------------||
||--12---12-12---11---11-11---|---9--------9-----||
||--12---12-12---12---12-12---|--10-------10-----||
||--10---10-10---12---12-12---|--10-------10-----||
||--10---10-10---10---10-10---|---8----8---8--0--||


       I     left             Cali     for     nia."
  4/4                                  *
||-------------------------|------------------------||
||-----0-------------------|-----0------------------||
||-----1-----0-------0--0--|-----5-----4-------4----||
||-----2--0--2-------2--2--|-----5-----5-------5----||
||-----2--0--3----3--3--3--|-----3-----5-------5----||
||--0--0--0--3----3--3--3--|--0--0--0--3-------3----||


  2/4
||----------------||
||----------------||
||----------------|| [Back to VERSE]
||-----5----------||
||-----5--0-------||
||--3--3--0h-2-3--||


(* Stop here on the last chorus)

[JeremyEngle]

No objections here!

[ant_in_alaska]

Aaron rocks my socks!

[Aaron]

Thanks Jamie!

I should point out that the following chords (in California)...

||--------------------||
||--------------------||
||--12----11-----9----||
||--12----12----10----||
||--10----12----10----||
||--10----10-----8----||

...can be transposed to:

||--3--------------||
||--3----7----5----||
||--0----7----5----||
||--0----7----5----||
||-------5----3----||
||-----------------||

...but it won't have that full sound as it does in the recording.  But if I'm sitting in a certain position where I have to hold my guitar in an awkward way, during the chorus part, I go from (10 10 12 12 x x) to (x 5 7 7 7 x), just because it's more comfortable... and my fingers are too big for the E-shaped chords down that far anyway

OH!  And I'm thinking about changing the following chord:

||--0----------------||
||--1----------5-----||
||--0---INTO---5-----||
||--2----------5-----||
||--0----------0-----||
||--0----------0-----||

Anyone reading this, let me know if you like that better.  I'm not fully convinced I actually hear that 2nd fret on the D-string.  I'm 100% sure that the open-string is played on the E and A strings (because I do silly things like looping individual chords in Adobe Audition and play them over and over and over until I can pick out each note individually).  Oh, and it sounds fuller when it's played as (0 0 5 5 5 X) anyway.

The only other thing that (10 10 12 12 X X) can be changed into is (X 5 5 7 8 X), other than (X X 0 0 3 3)... so I'm gonna stick with what I got, but the move to (0 0 5 5 5 X) in the verses is much easier than moving your hand all the way down to (0 0 2 0 1 0).

[JeremyEngle]

Re:

||--0----------------||
||--1----------5-----||
||--0---INTO---5-----||
||--2----------5-----||
||--0----------0-----||
||--0----------0-----||

I think [0 0 5 5 5 x] makes more sense than [0 0 2 0 1 0] from a playability standpoint (sorry, I just woke up), and it seems like more of a "Liz thing" anyway.

What I mean by that is it's easier to slide down from [10 10 12 12 x x] to [0 0 5 5 5 x], keeping your third finger in position to make the barre. (In fact, whether or not you actually hear the 2nd string on that first chord, as in [10 10 12 12 12 x], it's very likely she's fretting it like an A-shape barre chord.) It's also reminiscent of the intro to 6' 1".

When I was playing this song yesterday, I did notice it seemed odd and needlessly difficult to try to get that combination of notes ([0 0 2 0 1 0]) from so low on the neck, so I was playing it as a truncated Em7-shape barre chord in the 5th position ([5 7 5 5 x x] -- what would be an Am7 in standard tuning). However, your [0 0 5 5 5 x] makes even more sense, as demonstrated.

The only other question I had was about the stray note(s) [x 0 7 x x x] coming just before the [10 10 12 12 x x]. It sounds like it's there, but it seems odd and rather un-Liz-like for her to have fretted that single note on her way up to the next chord. Is it possible it's coming from something else? It definitely doesn't sound out of place, but when you actually play it yourself, it sort of raises doubts. What do you think?

[Aaron]

I was pretty sure it'd be the [0 0 5 5 5 x], but I thought if someone else agreed, then I could just would just go ahead and change it.

And you're right about the [x 0 7 x x x] too.  For one, I was hearing the '7' but I don't know where the '0' came from.  It just sounded like the only other logical note to pick with it since it sounded kinda chunky, and the open-E string is still ringing from the last 'chord' (or is it just picked lightly for this 'chord'?--I'll get to that in a second).

7 transposed down is 12, which is right where you wanna be for the next chord [10 10 12 12 x x].  It's a chunkier sound, but I think maybe the string above could be a dead note, to kinda make it chunkier sounding?   So like [(0) 12 X x x x]?  (The (0) being the open string still ringing; or you can probably still pick it if you wanted to.)  There are also 2 more variations of that 'chord' which I am noting in the revised version.

So here is the revised version:


Liz Phair - "California" (from Juvenilia)
Credit: Aaron Wilson
Last Revised: August 12, 2007

Tuning: Standard w/ capo on 5th fret

[h]ammer-on
[p]ull-off



   [INTRO]
   2/4
E||---------------||
B||---------------||
G||---------------||
D||---------------||
A||---------------||
E||-------0h-2-3--||



  [VERSE]
  4/4           ** (See Fig. 1)
||------------------------------|-----------------------------||
||-------------------------5----|--0--------------------------||
||------------------12-----5----|--4p-(0)--0--0----0--0-------||
||--------------X---12-----5----|--5p-(0)--4--2----2--0-------||
||-----2---0---12---10--0--0----|--5p-(0)--5--3----3--0-------||
||--3--3---0---(0)--10--0--0----|--0-------5--3----3--0h-2-3--||



  [CHORUS]
     "And I      tried...
  3/8          6/8                          5/8
||------------|----------------------------|------------------||
||------------|----------------------------|------------------||
||------------|--12---12-12---11---11-11---|---9--------9-----||
||------------|--12---12-12---12---12-12---|--10-------10-----||
||-----2--0---|--10---10-10---12---12-12---|--10-------10-----||
||--3--3--0---|--10---10-10---10---10-10---|---8----8---8--0--||


       to    tell            you be-   fore...          that that's
  4/4                                                3/8
||-------------------------|------------------------|------------||
||-----0-------------------|-----5------------------|------------||
||-----1-----0-------0--0--|-----5-----4-------4----|-----4--x-x-||
||-----2--0--2-------2--2--|-----5-----5-------5----|-----5--x-x-||
||-----2--0--3----3--3--3--|-----3-----5----5--5----|--5--5--x-x-||
||--0--0--0--3----3--3--3--|--0--0--0--3----3--3----|--3--3--x-x-||


    why...
  6/8                          5/8
||----------------------------|------------------||
||----------------------------|------------------||
||--12---12-12---11---11-11---|---9--------9-----||
||--12---12-12---12---12-12---|--10-------10-----||
||--10---10-10---12---12-12---|--10-------10-----||
||--10---10-10---10---10-10---|---8----8---8--0--||


       I     left             Cali     for     nia."
  4/4                                  *
||-------------------------|------------------------||
||-----0-------------------|-----0------------------||
||-----1-----0-------0--0--|-----5-----4-------4----||
||-----2--0--2-------2--2--|-----5-----5-------5----||
||-----2--0--3----3--3--3--|-----3-----5-------5----||
||--0--0--0--3----3--3--3--|--0--0--0--3-------3----||


  2/4
||----------------||
||----------------||
||----------------|| [Back to VERSE]
||-----5----------||
||-----5--0-------||
||--3--3--0h-2-3--||




* Stop here on last Chorus


** [Fig 1.]
   These are two different variations of the 'chord' played
   in some parts of the song.
||-------------||
||-------------||
||-------------||
||---12----X---||
||----X---12---||
||----0---10---||